


Not Too Late

by Kiiesaa



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Love Confessions, M/M, Markhyuckisouttokillme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-19
Updated: 2016-11-19
Packaged: 2018-08-31 22:20:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8596036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiiesaa/pseuds/Kiiesaa
Summary: Whoever spread those rumors around the world saying that Mark was ‘absolutely fully capable’ was bluffing— no lie. Cause if there was one thing that Mark Lee couldn’t do, it was to confess his never-ending love for one Lee Donghyuck. And the members of NCT DREAM could attest to that.The Markhyuck sequel(?) to All That We Got.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Markhyuck's kiss at MY SMT caused this. Too much feels bru, too much.

This is the Markhyuck sequel(?)- idk if it's called as a sequel or what- to my other story **[All That We Got](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8357980) **. If you haven't checked it out, do read it first. :D

 

 

“Ge, will you go out with me?”

It was as if time had stood still when Chenle said those words as NCT Dream were in the midst of having their usual practice for Chewing Gum’s choreography, one lovely day. The group were seated on the floor, resting- they were given a 5-minute break before their dance teacher returns and another rigorous round of run-through was about to commence, but some of them had other ideas— namely, Chenle and Renjun. They were at the middle of the room, standing face to face; pre occupied at the moment and didn’t had an ounce of care of what was happening around them for they were too engrossed on whatever it is they were conversing about.

Mark was dumbfounded; he literally had his jaws dropped as he stared at what was happening before him.

Chenle, one of the youngest members of NCT’s latest unit, was confidently and boldly asking Renjun out, for the entire group to hear and if Mark wasn’t so shocked at the moment, he would be so proud of the younger for having the courage to do something as straightforward as this.

But the eldest in the group had different thoughts lingering in the back of his mind.

He was not so sure if it was because he had been busy with a lot of thing that he hadn’t noticed or he hadn’t been paying close attention to his members but before he knew it, the kids were growing up too fast for his liking. Jeno was dating Jaemin— for a few months now, and Chenle had just confessed to Renjun.

They were now capable of doing those sorts of things which only adults would do– they weren’t little kids anymore.

And somehow, Mark felt like he was left behind and it made him dissatisfied. He was the eldest, the leader, yet how come they were all pairing up except for him?

Well apparently, everyone saw this coming; Chenle and Renjun. The younger had been dropping hints here and there for a few weeks now and it would take a blind person not to notice what those motives of him signified.

Unconsciously, he turned to stare at Donghyuck who was just beside him, also staring at the two Chinese males. Donghyuck seemed somewhat pleased in the turn of events, the corner of his mouth curling up to form his very infamous grin.

Mark felt warm at the sight of the younger smiling like that— even though he won’t admit it. Despite the fact that they dispute a lot and were considered the Tom and Jerry pair of NCT, Mark couldn’t help himself but feel a certain attraction for Donghyuck as time passes by.

They’ve clashed a bunch of times before— it was unevitable; they were each other’s exact opposite. Mark was more driven, more passionate about his dreams and that he makes it his number one priority, and yet he was selfless; thinks about others before himself. Donghyuck was different. He liked living in the moment, more carefree; it has always been about enjoying life to the fullest and not worrying about stupid things like Mark does.

However, if they were so different, what happened that made Mark liked the younger?

Sure, Donghyuck was loud, obnoxious and immature at times, but… if Mark looks back, Donghyuck had always been there — from the start of their trainee days till now.

Debuting for three consecutive times is more stressful than other people thought; Mark had been under a lot of pressure. People expected so much of him, from being the maknae of NCT U and 127 to being the leader of NCT Dream.

When they were first put into NCT Dream, he was happy, sure. Being able to debut with his friends that were around his age had always been one of his dreams, but being their leader was a whole other story.  The kids relied on him so much and the burden was hard to carry sometimes that the latter feels like giving up in the middle of everything. But yeah, Donghyuck was there, he helped him up when he stumbled down and knocked some sense into his head when he was almost at the brick of quitting. Sure, the other hyungs were also there but Donghyuck had a different impact on him. He had been a witness to his many insecurities yet hadn’t judged him even at the slightest.

The older was really thankful that he had Donghyuck.

And he would be lying if he denied that this was one of the reasons why he had fallen for him.

But of all people, why did it have to be Donghyuck?                                                                       

It freaked out Mark at first of course— knowing he had fallen for the younger without his consent and without much preparation. He hadn’t expected any of it, hadn’t planned anything like he usually does. Donghyuck had been the first to disrupt the usual calm routine of Mark’s normal life and surprisingly, he didn’t mind any of it.

And honestly, the older doesn’t even have any plans of doing anything about it on the first place.

Being a witness to Jeno and Jaemin’s amazing lovelife and now, Chenle confessing to Renjun, somehow he felt bitter.

Why? Because he knew that what those two couples were- whatever they had- would never be attainable with him and Donghyuck.

Mark knew that the probability of the younger liking him back was pretty damn close to zero, possible to be a negative integer even. Why would Donghyuck even like him? Sure he was handsome, and talented and smart- call him a narcissist if you may- but he was a worrywart, he tends to overthink and he was a really complicated person. All his uncertainties would come crashing down on him at the thought of the slightest possibility of the maroon haired male not liking him back.

And besides, they were close friends.

Their friendship was something precious to him, something he really treasured and he isn’t stupid enough it risk it all on emotions he knew would eventually pass.

Donghyuck deserved better than that, he believed.

When Renjun’s “Are you sure about this Le? Think about it” answer came, everyone went speechless, Jaemin may have even let out a rather loud gasp. No one expected that to happened, to say at least.

_Wait, did Chenle just got rejected?_

Silence spread throughout the room, both Chinese males still in front of the other, but only Chenle had his eyes on the older, Renjun had his gaze focused on the polished wooden floor, avoiding the younger’s eyes, afraid to look at him.

Mark found the entire situation to be painful, the silence was suffocating and he didn’t like the way things were going.

The leader had no other choice but to break the silence that followed after the older Chinese’s answer by telling them to go back to practice in a monotone voice to let him know that he was serious. The boys then scattered and went back to their places, just in time that their dance instructor went back inside the room and practice passed just as scheduled.

Tension was still thick in the air even in the middle of practice. Chenle wasn’t the usual cheerful and jolly little brat that he always is and Renjun seemed distracted; he tends to make mistakes in some of the moves that hadn’t escaped the leader’s observing eyes. But Mark hadn’t said a word, he just gave the younger an encouraging smile when he caught his sight, telling him that it was alright and he understood what the younger was going through.

Being confused about his feelings– Mark has been there, gone through all of that– so he definitely knew how Renjun was feeling.

After practice had ended, while they were fixing their stuff  so they could head on home, Mark saw Donghyuck headed straight for Chenle as the younger was the first to exit the room in a hurry, probably still sour about being rejected.

Being careful to not get caught, the leader would stare at the younger; the source of his affections, with the corner of his eyes as Donghyuck followed their Chinese male vocalist outside the dance room.

Mark couldn’t help but think about what could happen if he confessed to the younger, what Donghyuck would say.

Would Donghyuck reject him like what Renjun did?  Would Mark sulk like Chenle about getting rejected? Or would he say yes right away like what Jaemin did when Jeno asked him out?

He frowned bitterly before picking up his bag and waited for the younger kids to be done with so they could go home.

Like he’d ever get the guts to confess.

As if.

\--

 

He was twirling the pencil skilfully around his fingers, tapping his shoe against the carpeted floor, head slightly banging as he hummed to a particular tune he had just made up a while ago.

Mark had locked himself inside of his shared bedroom with Donghyuck, writing lyrics for a song that had been playing at the back of his mind since last night, going over a few notes and crossing out some words he thought didn’t fit the song.

Composition has been one of his strongest fields in the music industry and had decided to hone it more for the past few years ever since he was still a trainee; he had been studying and practicing lyrical composition and had deemed himself talented at it. He would usually stay up all night if he was inspired to write down something and just drown himself in his art without much care about other earthy things, such as his burdened heart, his unrequited feelings for the younger vocalist and stress.

If you would ask him, Mark had wrote a bunch of songs about Donghyuck, a bunch of songs he wrote down on his composition notebook he had hid under his bed for safe keeping since the younger was quite nosy for his own good. It would be the downfall of Mark Lee if Donghyuck found that notebook; it was full of cringe worthy and cliché songs that the older had wrote out of frustration and angst. He would never hear the end of it if the younger did found out. But there were some songs and lyrics that were pretty good— some, not all.

Mark was ambitious, he had a lot of dreams; one of them is for NCT to sing one of his self-written songs in the near future, a song he had written on his own— without the usual help from Taeyong. He was confident that one day, his skill would be worthy enough for SM to his group to use his compositions. Mark can’t wait for it to happen; for Taeil, Doyoung and Jaehyun to hit the ridiculously high notes he would make them do.

And yeah, he can’t wait for the words he had composed, come out from those bow-shaped lips of Donghyuck’s.

But before he could think of the future, he should definitely focus more on the present.

Things haven’t been going well for him in the past few days.

Feeling a sudden wave of rage hit him at the thought, Mark crumpled down the sheet of paper he had in front of him out of frustration after scribbling down some rather large circles and lines, making the notes he had effortlessly written down unreadable anymore. He leaned back on his chair, staring up to the ceiling before groaning.

A couple days have passed by and Mark would be lying if he said he wasn’t feeling at edge most of the time. They were busy with promotions and school had been taking its toll on him. He never really understood the concept of Math and how it could possibly help him on his music career.

The stress was starting to build up and Mark knew he just had to get away from it.

After having come up with a decision, he stood up and decided to go outside the room and unwind. He looked down at his wrist watch, realizing that it had been about 3 hours since he started writing and came up with nothing.

Nice going Mark.

The kids were watching a movie at the living room. Donghyuck had asked him earlier if he wanted to join them but he declined the offer, wanting to be left alone for a while so he could write.

But it was just a lie.

Honestly, he just didn’t want to see Chenle flirting with Donghyuck in his face when he would join them.

Yeah, it was definitely the reason why.

Mark wasn’t sure how it happened or why it happened but those two have been acting pretty close with each other lately.

It was getting on his nerves, at how close Chenle was getting to Donghyuck these past few days. Mark knew that Renjun hadn’t accepted the main vocalist’s confession— yet, but the leader knew that they were bound to end up together anyway. Everyone knew that. It was so obvious that Renjun liked the younger back. Something was just holding him back.

But why was Chenle sticking to Donghyuck like glue? Wasn’t Renjun the love of his life? Why was Chenle doing those things?

The older knew that Chenle was probably up to no good, probably planning on making Renjun jealous or something by hanging out with Donghyuck more and being rather clingy. But something just felt off, something wasn’t right.

Mark had no idea what it was exactly.

He reached for the door, thinking that the kids might not have been finished with the movie yet so it was probably best if he could join them and enjoy himself even for a little bit, to keep his mind off some things that had been bugging him.

As he opened the door, a rather irritating sight had welcomed him.

Donghyuck had his head rested against Chenle’s shoulder while the younger was holding him in place, his arms around the older.

Mark hadn’t said anything, though he badly wanted to strangle the younger chinese male for even thinking of holding Donghyuck like that. How dare he?

But he decided to just remain his composure; he should be the better man out of this. Yes, he should.

Relax Mark. Keep your cool Mark, he told his self.

“Hyung, you could lay in my lap you know?” the sudden suggestion from the younger definitely didn’t pass by the leader’s ear and boy was he pissed.

He was about to say something, say anything, just to get those two away from each other but was beaten to it when Renjun had suddenly stood up and left the room in a hurry, a unpleased expression was clear as day on his face that Mark had caught before the former fled and left the younger ones disbelieved.

From where he stood, it would seem like Chenle was ready to follow suit, ready to follow the older to whenever it is he was supposed to be going but before he even got the chance to do so, Donghyuck had held onto his wrist, preventing him from moving. And was where Mark felt his irritation reached its peak.

Something was boiling at the pit of his stomach, some unknown emotion he hadn’t felt in the past, without further listening to what the two were probably talking more about, before he knew it, he cleared his throat, catching the attention of the younger kids in the other side of the room.

“Donghyuck, come here for a second,” he said, arms crossed across his chest as he continued on staring at the male in question.

The younger male turned to him, clearly stunned by his sudden appearance and Mark couldn’t help but snort at his expression. “Why?” Donghyuck asked, letting go of the hand he had on the younger.

“We need to talk,” a tinge of venom trailing in his voice, not forgetting to spare Chenle one of his ‘don’t-touch-him’ glares. “In private.”

Donghyuck seemed to be hesitant at first, not wanting to follow the older, but the look of urgency that Mark had gave him made him think otherwise.

After dusting himself off, he headed towards the door. Mark gave way to let the younger enter the room but not before he caught a glimpse of what seemed like concerned eyes from Jeno and Jisung but paid it no mind.

He slammed the door behind him when he turned and entered the room and saw the younger jolt as wood crashed against wood at the impact of the door to the frame.

They stood across each other, said nothing.

The younger was staring at him, waiting for him to say something. Innocence was visible on the younger’s eyes, like it was as if he wasn’t aware with what he did and it made Mark sick to the bones.

Tch.

“What the hell are you doing?” Mark said straight away, arms still crossed.

“What do you mean?” the younger asked with furrowed eyebrows, confused at the query being hurled at him.

“How could you allow Chenle to do something like that to you?” Looking rather sceptical at the other, he raised his brow at the younger’s oblivious act. C’mon, Donghyuck was dense just not to this extreme!

“Do what to me?” the younger tilted his head to the side, still muddled. “Hyung, I don’t understand.”

“Are you even aware what you are doing Lee Donghyuck? Have some decency. Not everyone is pleased if they see you flirting with another member in the open. Don’t you even feel bad for Renjun? You already know that he likes Chenle yet you’re doing this!” he said in one breathe, irritation trailing in his voice. He was really pissed and he wasn’t sure what he was saying anymore.

“Why is Chenle and Renjun-hyung dragged into this? I really don’t understand.”

“Stop pretending that you don’t know cause I know you do!”

“But I really don’t!” And of course Donghyuck won’t back down in a verbal fight.

“Don’t deny it,” Mark sneered, almost threatening.

“I’m not doing anything wrong here hyung,” the younger defended. If Mark wasn’t clouded with rage of some sort he would have definitely noticed the sudden change in Donghyuck, like he wasn’t at all expecting Mark to be like this to him.

“Not doing anything huh?” he clicked his tongue before he smirked bitterly at the younger. “Unbelievable.”

“And I’m the one who’s unbelievable?” Donghyuck was outraged. “I really don’t know why you seem pissed off about this but I did nothing wrong hyung!”

But Mark was too prideful, too unwilling to back down, too reluctant to listen. “That is not _nothing_ Lee Donghyuck,” he said adding emphasize in his words.

Why can’t Donghyuck see what he had done wrong?

“What is your problem hyung?!” the younger shouted; unable to contain the fit of fury he too was feeling. “If you have an issue with me why don’t you just outright say it in my face so I’d understand,” he sounded hurt. “You can’t just expect me to understand everything right away if you aren’t even telling me anything!”

_I am jealous, damn it!_

But of course, he wouldn’t say that out loud. Mark said nothing, couldn’t come up with a retort to counter the younger’s words, couldn’t say anything back. Awkward silence then invaded the room, leaving Mark utterly defeated.

_You’ve won this round._

Donghyuck hadn’t said anything as well; he was just silently observing the older, searching his eyes. This stare was so piercing, so intense that Mark had diverted his gaze first and broke contact.

He then heard Donghyuck let out a bitter chuckle before saying, “I thought so.”

A few fleeting seconds passed by with the both of them not uttering a single sound after. The younger suddenly took a few strides, went pass him, headed straight for the door before Mark stopped him, holding him by the shoulder.

“Where are you going?” the leader asked.

“Somewhere away from here,” he answered as he shrugged the older off. “Somewhere away from you.”

Mark was left dumbstruck, only following him with his eyes when he made it to the door.

 _Stop him_.

But it was too late.

“Talk to me when you’re ready to tell me,” was the last words that the younger had said before he closed the door behind him and left Mark to himself in the room.

\--

 

And Donghyuck was pretty serious when he said those words. He really wasn’t lying when he said he’d stay away from Mark. They hadn’t talk to each other after that, not once.

And truth be told, it was making Mark’s life more miserable than it already is.

At first, it was bearable; Mark could still handle the situation. But now, it was a whole different story. Donghyuck avoided him like the plague and it was starting to create anxieties for him. They share the same room yet most of the time, Donghyuck would stay at the living or at Chenle’s room, only coming in when it was time to sleep and completely ignore the older. Heck, the younger doesn’t even does his homework in their room anymore!

And yes, the members had noticed it as well. How couldn’t they? It was so obvious!

The other kids were worried for them, Mark was aware of that. Them not talking was something worth worrying about since both were practically best friends and everything. Jeno, being one of the closest friend he had in the group, had already cornered him one day regarding it. Mark knew that Jeno wasn’t used to talking about personal stuff and was really awkward about the conversation but the older appreciated his friend’s effort at attempting to lift up his mood. Jeno knew that a small pep-talk with the older would be all that it takes to get Mark up from the gutter and make him function properly again.

“I messed up, big time,” Mark told Jeno when he was done explaining, they were at the kitchen counter, the younger was sitting just across Mark while the other younger members were all in the living room, playing a video game that Jaemin had pushed them to play. Jeno had asked him what was wrong and having kept it all to himself for a few days, Mark decided that it would be best to let it all out and tell the younger what had happened that day; the day that he and Donghyuck had fought verbally in their room. Jaemin was with him then but one look at Jeno’s eyes told him that they needed privacy; he excused himself and volunteered to keep the other kids busy so the two friends could talk intently. Jeno was thankful he had a boyfriend as considerate as Jaemin.

“Talk to him hyung,” Jeno said, the only advice he could think of when the older was done talking. In Jeno’s opinion, Mark was just acting on pure impulse. What Chenle did had provoked him to pick a fight with Donghyuck, and knowing Donghyuck, of course he wouldn’t just stand there and take whatever the leader threw at him when he knew he did nothing wrong in the first place. But still, it doesn’t justify the fact that Mark had hurt the younger’s feelings when he shouted at him. “Say sorry.”

“I wish it was that easy,” Mark sighed, both elbows resting on the table, he was tapping his fingers on the hard marble, trying to keep the uneasy feeling away “He won’t even look at my way now, let alone talk to me.”

Jeno was looking at him in silence, trying to decipher what Mark was really feeling. Mark was an open book, he’d tell you basically anything you needed to know about him if you just persuade him for a bit but there were times when he would be very unpredictable, very difficult to read. It would seem like there was more to this than just meets the eye. When he saw the leader bit his lower lip, the former knew that this was really serious and whatever fight Donghyuck and the older had going on, needed to be fixed as soon as possible before Mark becomes a mess.

“You both can’t go on like this forever, you know that,” Jeno finally said. It was true. Donghyuck meant so much to Mark just like how Jaemin means to him. The older needed the younger and it pains him to see that Mark couldn’t be with him.

“I know. But what could I do?” he paused to look at the younger. “He doesn’t want to talk to me.”

“I don’t think that’s the case,” the younger countered. “I bet he is also itching to talk to you too but he just can’t.”

“That makes the both of us then.”

“Don’t tell me you’d allow this to happen hyung?” Jeno knew Mark couldn’t let something as trivial as this ruin whatever he and the younger shared. Mark wasn’t like that. “You have to do something.”

Mark gave Jeno a certain look before he shook his head and chuckled softly, trying to lift up the mood. “You’ve been around Jaemin for too long, you’re starting to act like him.”

“You say like it’s a bad thing, hyung.” The younger’s lips curled to form a small smile at the mention of his boyfriend’s name, he chuckled. “If I remember clearly, you were the one who persuaded me to confess to him in the first place.”

“Don’t remind me,” he groaned at the thought, running a hand down his face. “I’m starting to rethink that. I’m regretting it.”

The brunette had a brow raised but a smile still intact on his face nonetheless “I think you said, ‘Just confess, nothing will go wrong’, right?”

“I don’t remember,” he denied.

“ _Trust me, it would be easy_ , you said. How come you haven’t done that if you said it was easy?”

Okay, so just because Jeno had a much more decent love life compared to him doesn’t mean he could just rub it in his face alright? Mark had feelings- no matter how conflicted they are- too you know.

“Cause me and Donghyuck are different compared to you and Jaemin,” came his answer. “You both liked each other even from the very start. And don’t you dare deny it!” he exclaimed, seeing as though Jeno had open his mouth to probably inject something in his statement, beating the younger to it so he would have to place to argue about anything. Jeno decided against his first plan and pouted instead, Mark was pleased.

“C’mon, the way Jaemin looks at you was different compared to how he looked at the rest of us. His smiles are brighter when you’re around,” he continued. “I wish Dongyuck was like that to me as well but he’s not.” There was a hint of an unrecognizable emotion trailing in his voice when those words left his lips but Jeno wasn’t sure what it was.

“Hyung…”

“Bottomline is,” he added, “he’s not Jaemin and I’m not you. We don’t share the same connection like you both do.”

“What connection?”

Seeing the gleam in the younger’s eyes at the comment about Jaemin, Mark snorted. “Don’t go all love struck, lover boy. You know I’m still bitter about you two being together.”

“That, I’ll never understand,” Jeno said. “You helped us get together yet you still whine whenever we’re together. How come?”

“Don’t take it the wrong way man,” he explained, reaching for the younger’s shoulder to give it a pat to let him know he wasn’t entirely serious with this earlier assertion. “It’s just that, you and Jaemin are happy, same goes for Chenle and Renjun. I’m happy for you but looking at you boys, being together and being lovey-dovey, I can’t help feeling..”

“Jealous?” Jeno proposed.

“Disappointed,” Mark finished. “I pity myself cause I feel bad that I can’t have what you guys have.”

“It’s never too late hyung, you could still tell him,” Jeno opined, now fully understanding where the older was coming from. “And even if you couldn’t then just apologize, at least having him as a friend is better than having him as nothing at all.”

Even though Mark was older than he was, Jeno couldn’t help but feel that he just had to outright tell his friend to man up and just confess already so everyone could get on with their lives. But with their leader, that wasn’t the case. If only confessing was just as easy as writing lyrics, Mark would have done that a long time ago but it wasn’t.

But his statement still stands, if Mark really couldn’t pull his emotions from his ass then it is better that he and Donghyuck just stay as friends.

Mark thought deep and hard before he deemed that what the younger had said was most likely. “You’re right. But I don’t know what to do.”

“Don’t rush it, you’d think of something eventually.” Jeno smiled, trying to reassure the older. “Everything will turn out just fine.”

He shrugged. “I guess.”

They really can’t avoid each other no matter how much they try; Chewing Gum promotions might be ending soon yet they are still part of NCT 127 and boy were they busy most of the time, they go to the same school, live in the same dorm. They have no escape from each other.

Mark was lucky that the other hyungs had moved to another dorm because if they didn’t they would have known what was going on. It wouldn’t take long before the other older members of the group would find out about their fight and Mark didn’t want them to know. He will never hear the end of Taeyong and Doyoung’s rants if they found out that was having some issues with the younger members, especially with Donghyuck.

“Just try to talk to him, okay? You aren’t the absolutely fully capable Mark for nothing, hyung,” the younger spared him a smirk.

The older couldn’t help but laugh at the familiar brand he was known for; being fully capable.

And Jeno was absolutely right, there wasn’t anything that Mark couldn’t do.

They can’t continue on like this, Mark thought.

He had to do something.

But what?

\--

 

After little effort- cause he was too lazy to actually style himself up- Mark had just finished getting dressed. He was now sitting at his desk, keeping himself busy for a while before they head on to their schedule; they were supposed to have a performance with the other NCT127 members at a charity concert that day, leaving the younger kids by themselves. He and Donghyuck were just waiting for their hyungs to pick them up so they could head on out. But since the older hyungs lived at a different dorm in a different area from theirs, it would take a while before they arrive and that was the reason why Mark was distracting himself.

He had been ready for some time, Donghyuck too.

He was probably outside, Mark guessed.

Yeah, they still haven’t talked to each other. Mark tried okay, he did. But somehow, fate was being cruel and he just couldn’t find the perfect moment for them to be alone and talk. Night time was probably the most favourable choice but Donghyuck hadn’t stayed in the room much and if he did, it was either Mark wasn’t there, sleeping or Donghyuck himself was already asleep and Mark doesn’t have the heart to wake him up from such a peaceful slumber.

The leader heard a knock at the door, cutting his train of thought, and before he could even answer back a reply, the door had opened, revealing a happy looking Zhong Chenle.

“Mark-hyung!” the younger said, skipping happily into the room.

He turned to look at him, spared a tired smile. “Yeah Chenle, what’s up?”

The younger was beaming at him, completely oblivious at the gloomy aura lingering around their leader. It was clear as day— and the younger hadn’t actually tried hiding it all, that Chenle was pretty cheerful these past few days.

Well, he had to be. He and Renjun were now officially dating.

He seems really happy, Mark thought.

The leader was happy for them as well.

_They’ve liked each other for too long. It was about time!_

The older had to give the younger singer props though; Chenle had cornered Renjun in the latter’s room one day and talked to him. And surprisingly, when they came out, the younger announced that they were together, much to Renjun’s embarrassment. Chenle was truly amazing.

“I have a problem,” the younger said as stood in front of the older. “And I need your help hyung.”

“Okay?” There was something in the younger’s voice that made Mark slightly suspicious. “What is it?”

“Jisung wanted to clean the house but he couldn’t find the vacuum cleaner anywhere,” the younger explained briefly.

Mark raised a questioning brow at him. “Seriously? Jisung? Clean?” he asked, wanting to know he hadn’t heard it wrong the first time. “Are you sure you hadn’t hit your head or anything? Jisung and Clean don’t go in the same sentence together.”

They were close and everything but Mark was still kind of pissed at the youngest. He had found out that Chenle was only sticking to Donghyuck in order to make Renjun jealous. And guess whose brilliant plan was that? Jisung’s.

But how did Mark found out?

He heard Jeno and Jaemin talking about and directly asked them both. And as expected, Jaemin is really bad at lying.

Mark was so mad that he had actually grounded Jisung. He deserved it, Mark believes.

“Manager-hyung asked him to,” Chenle reasoned. “C’mon hyung, help us find it!”

“Find it on your own, Lele,” the older said, shooing the younger away so he could be left in peace.

But Chenle just won’t allow that. “Hyung~” he whined, using his infamous puppy eyes on him.

_It won’t work._

Mark hadn’t replied, ignoring the younger so he would go away but Chenle just won’t take no for an answer.

“Mark-hyung~” he approached the older, tugging on the sleeves of his shirt, getting the leader to look at him.

The older sighed. “Seriously Le, have you even checked the closet besides the bathroom? It could be there.”

“Umm… no?”

“You should have checked there first.”

“How about you check it for us hyung?” the younger proposed.

Mark’s jaws had just dropped right then and there, staring sceptically at the younger. “Are you serious right now?”

Chenle blinked twice. “Umm.. yes?”

Although he sounded so unsure with his answer, Mark gave up trying to reason with Chenle at this point, it just seemed fruitless that it would be immature even bothering arguing with him.

He shot up to his feet and went out the room. He didn’t even bother to look back to see if the younger was following him or not.

The sooner he gets what the younger wants, the sooner he’ll leave him alone.

Mark headed for the closet near the bathroom door, as he opened it slightly, the wooden door creaked.

The small space was pitch black when it was finally opened. Knowing there was a switch just at the end of the room, Mark went inside without much remorse.

“Le, I think it’s here. Let me g-“

“DON’T CLOSE THE DO-”

Another voice inside the room startled him, not even paying attention that the door had suddenly slammed shut.

Not knowing why it happened, Mark was left dumbfounded and immediately went to where the switch was and turned it on.

As his eyes slowly adjusted to the blinding light emitted by the fluorescent bulb, he was stunned to be standing in front of Donghyuck, who was just as equally as shocked as he was.

And it doomed on Mark.

He headed straight back to the door, paying no mind of the younger’s presence in the same room.

The door has closed.

_This cannot be happening._

He turned the handle but no luck.

It was locked.

Great.

_Is this really happening?_

He banged his fist against the wood, shouting at the top of his lungs to get somebody to open the door.

“ZHONG CHENLE, YOU OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT THIS INSTANT MISTER!”

“Nice one Lele! Who would have thought that he’d fall for something like that?”

“NA JAEMIN I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’RE ALSO A PART OF THIS.”

“We’re only doing this to help you out hyung.”

“OH MY GOODNESS, LEE JENO I’M GOING TOO KILL YOU AS WELL!”

“Hey guys, are you sure hyung will okay with this?”

“TELL YOUR BOYFRIEND TO OPEN THE DOOR HUANG RENJUN!”

“Don’t mind him Renjun-hyung, it’s for their own good.”

“PARK JISUNG LISTEN TO YOUR HYUNG. OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT THIS SECOND!”

“Sorry hyung but this is what you get for grounding me,” he could actually picture out the smirk probably plastered on the younger’s face.

Brats.

But no matter what Mark said, the other kids just won’t listen.

_This is absolutely happening._

“Now’s your chance hyung!”

“Go get him hyung!”

“Goodluck hyung!”

And much was said.

Another fit of giggles could be heard from the other side of the door and Mark felt his skin crawl.

He made a mental note to ground all of the kids after he gets out of the closet.

A few minutes had passed by and they were still locked inside the cramped space with nothing else better to do but wait for the younger members to have mercy and just open the door so they could finally go out. Both male were seated on the floor, side by side, backs leaned against the door and weren’t talking to each other. The tension in the air was so thick it was suffocating.

“Hey, say something hyung. It’s already scary enough as it is in here.” Donghyuck finally said, not liking the atmosphere they shared. Mark knew for a fact that the younger gets scared easily and being trapped inside a closet even though the lights were on wasn’t helping.

Mark thought long and hard about what to say, to ease the weird feeling in his gut. And “I’m sorry,” was the best that he could come up with. Not so clever right?

Donghyuck turned to look at him, features slighting softening, as if telling Mark to continue what it was he was supposed to say.

The older heaved a sigh before continuing. “Look, I’m sorry I latched out on you like that a few days ago,” he explained. “I was stressed and it accumulated and I didn’t know what-”

“I figured. It’s alright hyung,” Donghyuck responded, sensing as though the older was having difficulty trying to finish his words so he decided to interrupt.

“No, I’m really sorry. It was not nice of me.”

“Yeah, you were a dickhead,” Donghyuck retorted jokingly.

Mark rolled his eyes at the comeback. “Well gee, thanks for rubbing it in.” Trust Donghyuck to be sarcastic at a time like this.

The younger chuckled at the irked expression the older had on his face before he turned all serious again. “But what made you mad like that, hyung?” Donghuck questioned. “I mean, c’mon, I’ve seen you been a under a lot of pressure and stress before but you’ve never blown up, not even once. What happened?” He sounded genuinely concerned about the older and Mark was really attempted to just spill everything out.

“A lot has been on my mind lately,” Mark reasoned.

“But why?” he frowned. “Was it because of Lele?”

“Chenle?” his seagull eyebrows raised questioningly, not expecting the sudden mention of the younger’s name.

Donghyuck shrugged. “You were giving him weird looks that time so I thought he might be the reason.”

Mark didn’t answer.

“Be honest hyung,” Donghyuck asked when the older had turned silent again, clearly avoiding his question. “Please.”

The certain softness in the younger’s gentle plea left the older with no choice but admit everything. “Fine. It was. I hated that he was being all too clingy. It was pissing me off and I didn’t know why.”

It wasn’t entirely a lie though, right?

The younger nodded continuously, as if he was slowing digesting what the older had said. “So you got jealous?”

What? That caught the older off guard.

“So-sort of,” Mark stuttered with his words. Fuck, where was Donghyuck going with this?

The younger hummed, as if he had already predicted the answer, wrapped his arms loosely around his knees to pull him closer to his chest, resting his head on top of it while still looking at the older. “Is it because you like me?” he asked in a soft voice, almost inaudible but Mark heard it loud and clear.

“W-what?”

“You know, you like me?” Apparent confidence sparkling in the younger’s eyes left Mark astounded. Donghyuck was too cocky sometimes.

O-Okay. He didn’t saw this coming.

“Aren’t you being too over confident here?”

“I don’t think so?”

As weird as the whole situation was, with what was happening, Mark thought that this could finally be his chance. There was no turning back. It’s now or never.

“Yeah, I think that’s the reason,” he nodded, gaining confidence out of nowhere. “I like you.”

He waited, waited for the younger to spare him a disgusted look or to insult him or whatever but it never came.

When he saw Donghyuck straightened himself up and spared him a wide smile, he knew it was worth it. “Took you long enough,” he said teasingly. “I like you too by the way.”

Mark broke into a wide smile that it almost hurt. Donghyuck liked him back! “Since when?” Mark just had to ask.

“Since forever.” The younger said matter of a fact. “You’re just too dumb not to notice.”

Well he must be really stupid because he didn’t have a clue. “And I thought you were the oblivious one,” the older joked.

Donghyuck chuckled, giving the leader a knowing look before nudging him on his shoulders. “There’s a big different being pretentious and being oblivious.”

“So all this time you’ve known that I like you?”

“Ummm… no? Taeil-hyung had to tell me,” he explained sheepishly. “Remember the day when I got injured when we were practicing for Firetruck and had to be sent to the hospital to get checked out? He noticed some things, like you freaking out all of a sudden.”

Oh right. Mark remembers that. He remembered not being able to sleep well since Donghyuck was admitted to the hospital for one night and practically begged Taeyong and Taeil to let him visit the younger but they wouldn’t allow him since it wasn’t even serious and the younger would be back the next day. Yuta even told him he was overreacting over nothing.

“So he told you?” he wanted to clarify. Taeil was pretty observant so it would be no shock to Mark if the older really did notice.

“Jaehyun-hyung was with him then and he said the exact same thing. I didn’t believe it at first but they seemed pretty convinced,” he trailed off. “I just wanted to be sure.”

“So you’ve been quietly watching how I’d behave around you just to be sure?” Mark concluded.

Donghyuck nodded before he smirked yet again. “You’re so obvious and I feel stupid for not noticing it before.”

“I can’t believe the hyungs knew,” Mark commented, not paying close attention to what Donghyuck said before that.

“You think they didn’t? I’m quite sure that Winiwin-hyung thinks we’re dating,” the younger said thoughtfully. “Tae-hyung looked like he knew as well but he hadn’t said anything.”

“Thank goodness,” he blurted out. It would be the end of Mark if Taeyong actually said something about it. Next to Jeno, Taeyong was also awkward about stuff like that and as much as he respected the older, talking to him about his love life would just be plain torture.

“And somehow, Yuta-hyung found out that I like you. He’s been persuading me for months now to confess,” Donghyuck explained further.

The sudden statement perked the elder’s curiosity. “And why didn’t you?”

“Maybe for the exact same reasons why you didn’t,” the younger paused to look at the older, somewhat apologetic. “I was in doubt and afraid as hell.”

Mark knew that feeling all too well. But it was a big surprise to him that the younger had been feeling the same set of insecurities as well. He sighed once more. “We’re so lame.”

“Tell me about it,” Donghyuck snickered.

The older ran a hand other his face. “I should have confessed way earlier than this.” Mark was now starting to have regrets. “We lost a lot of time cause we’re both chickens.”

The younger laughed but he agreed with the statement nonetheless. “It’s alright. We have all the time in the world to make up for it,” he spared the older another genuine smile.

At the sight of the former grinning like that, Mark’s breathe hitched, it got caught at the back of his throat for some reason. Donghyuck had always been attractive in Mark’s eyes but today, it just doubled- if that was even possible.

Their shared confession wasn’t the most romantic, most planned, and most spontaneous one in the world- being trapped inside a closet and all that- it was imperfect. But it suited them just fine- Mark was a wreck and Donghyuck was a mess- they were just as imperfect.

The sudden feeling of now being confident in the younger’s feelings for him; Mark couldn’t help but stare deep into his eyes, drowning in them. Donghyuck’s gaze was soft, gentle and was full of affection that it overwhelmed Mark completely, blowing his mind away. Why hasn’t he noticed before? Before he knew it, Donghyuck closed his eyes; Mark took it as a signal to lean in slowly, closing his eyes as well. Just when they were just a breathe way from each other, both haven’t noticed voices coming from outside the room and the sound of the door-

 

 

“What are you doing?” Taeyong asked them softly when he had opened the door and the sight of Mark and Donghyuck doing….whatever, had welcomed him.

Both froze on the spot, still registering in their minds that they had an intruder and one of their oldest hyung was looking at them while they were in a rather awkward and suggesting position, eyes wide.

“Nothing?” Donghyuck managed to answer as he pushed himself away from Mark, the older slightly stumbling back at the force the younger had, making an ‘ufff’ sound.

Taeyong stared suspiciously at them, not entirely believing his words. “Well c’mon, the others are waiting in the car outside,” he said instead, thinking that they could talk about this later for they had somewhere to be right now.

Letting out the breathe they both didn’t knew they were holding in, both boys were relieved when Taeyong had turned their backs on them and hadn’t made a fuss on what he saw.

They knew they were bound to get _the talk_ from the older male some other time soon but that was least of their worries right now.

Mark was the first to had gotten to his feet and held his right hand out, offering to help the younger up. Without much thought, the younger accepted the hand and Mark pulled him to his feet, muttering a soft ‘thank you’ to their leader.

The sight of Donghyuck smiling made Mark smile as well, he intertwined their fingers together, making the younger blush at the gesture.

Everything was just perfect in Mark’s opinion that when Taeyong wasn’t looking, he stole a soft peck on the younger’s cheek, fast enough to leave Donghyuck dazed and more flushed, reaching his ears.

Happy that his feelings were actually reciprocated, he knew he would be high about this and wanted to do more but now really wasn’t the time— not yet, not when Taeyong was there and the other kids were scattered around the dorm, hiding from Mark’s fury that was yet to come.

Mark could wait- he had waited almost a few years for this to happen- waiting for a few more hours just for them to be alone wouldn’t hurt, right? And just like what his boyfriend had said, they could make up for the lost time.

Mark chuckled as the younger gave him a gentle push to the shoulders before they got out the closet to follow their hyung, still hand in hand.

It took him awhile but yeah, Mark was not too late after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are appreciated! :D Hmu at twitter! @Kiiesaa


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